Since many years, tribunals are overloaded with cases that could be rapidly judged. Several solutions exist to remedy this situation, such as simplified procedures with a single judge.
Another solution is about to be developed and could probably be used in a near future: it consists in using artificial intelligence to judge cases and make a simulation of a judicial decision. In France, Case Law Analytics, a startup made by a jurist and a researcher in computing, has taken profit of the current situation of tribunals. The goal of this kind of solution is to provide users with an idea of what a real tribunal could judge in a conflict, such as the decision and the damages, by using a system called predictive justice.
How does it work? The service will ask users a few questions concerning the issue they face, for example the type of conflict (divorce, dismissal, etc.). Then, an algorithm of artificial intelligence will analyze a database of cases law regarding the subject and the facts of the conflict, and will propose several decisions made by virtual judges, to give the user an idea of what a real tribunal would judge.
This technology has been tested in a real trial in 2017, concerning a civil law conflict in front of the Court of Appeal, to help the judges to give their decision. The final result was quite mitigated: in fact, the judges felt that it was more a statistic analysis than a qualitative analysis. Furthermore, French law is based on texts whereas common law systems are based on the “precedent doctrine”. Therefore, this technology will not yet replace real judges.